Wednesday, October 1, 2014
"Quietude of Minnows," by Hans Ostrom
Minnows, floating like flexible
galvanized nails, bunch their crowd
tightly in shadow, then disband
and dart. Clouds of starlings come
to mind. Quietude, sure, if only
I knew what that meant. I take it
to mean the opposite of noisetude,
so you can see I don't take it seriously.
For thoughts are imperialists and may
invade one another at any time. No reason,
then, to go out of your way to confuse
yourself and others. Or is there?
We need less reflection:
difficult to argue that. Of course
the sound of fighter-jets will intrude
noisetudinally (coordinates, please) and seem
to shake the surface of the lake
(to ask if there's been a goddamned mistake)
because we are at war again always, and the
joint-base is just down the road, right? In
other news, the Greed Opera is coming to town,
colleges have become pimps for loan-sharks,
Black folks remain under siege in some cities, decades
of that shit. And now somebody walks out from
the back of this poem carrying a gun,
a flashlight. I want to move but I can't. I
can sing, though, sort of, so I croakingly
melodize something about poets and minnows in their
schools, and I keep an eye on that gun,
and the Son of God is nowhere in sight.
hans ostrom 2014
galvanized nails, bunch their crowd
tightly in shadow, then disband
and dart. Clouds of starlings come
to mind. Quietude, sure, if only
I knew what that meant. I take it
to mean the opposite of noisetude,
so you can see I don't take it seriously.
For thoughts are imperialists and may
invade one another at any time. No reason,
then, to go out of your way to confuse
yourself and others. Or is there?
We need less reflection:
difficult to argue that. Of course
the sound of fighter-jets will intrude
noisetudinally (coordinates, please) and seem
to shake the surface of the lake
(to ask if there's been a goddamned mistake)
because we are at war again always, and the
joint-base is just down the road, right? In
other news, the Greed Opera is coming to town,
colleges have become pimps for loan-sharks,
Black folks remain under siege in some cities, decades
of that shit. And now somebody walks out from
the back of this poem carrying a gun,
a flashlight. I want to move but I can't. I
can sing, though, sort of, so I croakingly
melodize something about poets and minnows in their
schools, and I keep an eye on that gun,
and the Son of God is nowhere in sight.
hans ostrom 2014
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
"Chihuly Glass," by Hans Ostrom
Stuck to a steel frame, pieces
of former fluid seem to float
like tadpoles
like kelp globes
like lily pads
like figures in foam atop a German beer.
Lick them; they are lollipops.
Mock them; they are bugs.
Cheer them; they are art.
Laugh: they are funny shapes.
Orange yellow blue curls
and tails and blotches and blobs
brought out from fire,
confused dough, vibrant mud.
Dear Light: the glass-artist
likes to invite you in
for a cup of mad tea
because hey you came
all the way from the sun.
hans ostrom 2014
Dale Chihuly
of former fluid seem to float
like tadpoles
like kelp globes
like lily pads
like figures in foam atop a German beer.
Lick them; they are lollipops.
Mock them; they are bugs.
Cheer them; they are art.
Laugh: they are funny shapes.
Orange yellow blue curls
and tails and blotches and blobs
brought out from fire,
confused dough, vibrant mud.
Dear Light: the glass-artist
likes to invite you in
for a cup of mad tea
because hey you came
all the way from the sun.
hans ostrom 2014
Dale Chihuly
Monday, September 29, 2014
"American Poetry Managerial Decision," by Hans Ostrom
"And now out of the dugout strides the pitching coach, Cotton Mather. He signals for the closer, Emily Dickinson."
"That's right, Chuck, Manager Frederick Douglass has decided to remove starting pitcher Walt Whitman and take his chances with the diminutive right-hander."
"Well, Juan, Walt had very little control tonight, and his line-count was way up there. I think it's good move, Juan."
"Me, too, Chuck. I mean, you have to like Whitman's swagger, the way he sings himself, but it's hard to argue with Douglass's move. Dickinson has been in these situations before!"
"You bet, Juan--and here's Emily throwing her warm-up tosses to catcher Henry "The Hammer" James. Her lines get there in a hurry, but she also has that uncanny ability to take a little something off the rhyme. She keeps the other team off-balance!"
hans ostrom 2014
"That's right, Chuck, Manager Frederick Douglass has decided to remove starting pitcher Walt Whitman and take his chances with the diminutive right-hander."
"Well, Juan, Walt had very little control tonight, and his line-count was way up there. I think it's good move, Juan."
"Me, too, Chuck. I mean, you have to like Whitman's swagger, the way he sings himself, but it's hard to argue with Douglass's move. Dickinson has been in these situations before!"
"You bet, Juan--and here's Emily throwing her warm-up tosses to catcher Henry "The Hammer" James. Her lines get there in a hurry, but she also has that uncanny ability to take a little something off the rhyme. She keeps the other team off-balance!"
hans ostrom 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
"Of Rock and Roll," by Hans Ostrom
Straight-ahead, drive-it-through
rock n roll: sure, I understood it.
It was and is a loco-motive, a choo-choo train.
Noisy. Fun. I liked it.
R&B: well, to me
it seemed to be an octopus-shaped
alien ship covered in purple velvet,
wielding hammers, rolling out
blues in rhythms, landing here
to deliver the news about love
and work and sex and being
Black in Whiteville and being White
in Whiteville and desperately needing
the news. R&R never quite
did the same thing for me. It's probably
about more than taste or eras.
R&R, for all its value, seemed
like a filtration process; rhythm-and-
blues did not seem that. Seemed
a vast cultivation.
hans ostrom
rock n roll: sure, I understood it.
It was and is a loco-motive, a choo-choo train.
Noisy. Fun. I liked it.
R&B: well, to me
it seemed to be an octopus-shaped
alien ship covered in purple velvet,
wielding hammers, rolling out
blues in rhythms, landing here
to deliver the news about love
and work and sex and being
Black in Whiteville and being White
in Whiteville and desperately needing
the news. R&R never quite
did the same thing for me. It's probably
about more than taste or eras.
R&R, for all its value, seemed
like a filtration process; rhythm-and-
blues did not seem that. Seemed
a vast cultivation.
hans ostrom
"Recruiting More Students and Colleagues of Color at Liberal Arts Colleges: The Ten Essentials," by Hans Ostrom
(These are some remarks I'll give today for a panel on institutional change at the 3rd national Race and Pedagogy Conference, which is happening now where I teach, at the University of Puget Sound. This successful conference is the brain-child of Professor Dexter Gordon, Director of African American Studies and the Race and Pedagogy Initiative, and Professor Grace Livingston, who teaches in the program (as do I) and many, many collaborators.)
My main point of reference for this discussion is the
University of Puget Sound, where I’ve taught for many years, but the discussion
is really about the liberal arts college, as a model of higher education in
general, and diversity, not about Puget Sound per se.
I think that over the past decade and especially in recent
years, the discussion about liberal arts colleges and diversity has
shifted. I’ve observed a change in the
terms of the argument for diversity, from a kind of “it’s something we ought to
do/it’s our obligation” to “it’s a matter of survival.” In other words, the demographics have caught
up with liberal arts colleges, which haven’t adjusted quickly enough.
So one organizing principle of my ten essentials, which I’ll
distribute in a moment, is that a sense of obligation, progressive notions,
public relations, and so on, aren’t enough to push the change that needs to
occur.
A second organizing principle is that liberal arts colleges
probably have to be more self-critical as they re-examine their assumptions,
their ways of doing things, how they are perceived, and the rhetoric they use
to describe themselves. [refer to the
Whitman example].
Third and last, I’d like to say that some good things came of the
old model, which by and large sprang from a sense of noblesse oblige. Real changes in co-curricular programs,
curricula, defining academic and administrative positions, supporting conferences
like this have occurred over the last few decades at many if not most liberal
arts colleges. But that way of doing things has probably yielded all it can
yield, so that now some long-delayed fundamental change must occur. With that, . . . here is the list:
1. Think of
diversity as a necessity, not just “a
good thing.”
2. The Board
of Trustees/Regents (etc.) must regard diversity as a necessity.
3. Find out
who in the institution opposes diversity, and why, and be prepared to persuade
them otherwise or move ahead without them.
4. Find out
what students and parents of color, colleagues of color, and the local
community really think about your college and diversity.
5. Spend the
money.
6. Consider
the degree to which the college’s rhetoric about itself is exclusive or
insular.
7. Stop
rejecting “vocation-speak”; employment after college should be of primary
concern to liberal arts colleges, and it's connected to the concerns of all prospective college-students and it's of special concern arguably, to students from a variety of ethnic minorities.
(Recall that at least 5 of the original 7 liberal arts were what we
might call vocational: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, and geometry, the
other 2 being music and astronomy.)
8. Achieve a critical mass of students and colleagues of
color ASAP. What constitutes a critical
mass? The students and colleagues of color, among others, will let you know.
Until then, carry on.
9. Find out
in what venues and circumstances students and colleagues of color are most
likely to be alienated and respond accordingly.
10. What are
you willing to change about the “liberal arts college” paradigm?
Hans Ostrom, Professor of African American Studies and English, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington USA
Some Sources:
[the list of the original 7 liberal arts can be found on numerous sites online]
“The Most Economically Diverse Liberal Arts Colleges,” The
Upshot, New York Times, Sept. 8, 2014.
David Leonhardt, “Top Colleges That Enroll Rich, Middle
Class, Poor,” New York Times, Sept. 8,
2014.
Katherine McClelland and Carol J. Auster, “Public Platitudes
and Hidden Tensions: Racial Climates at Predominantly White Liberal Arts
Colleges,” Journal of Higher Education
Vol. 61, No. 6, Nov. - Dec., 1990. 607-642.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
"He Is Not a Random Man," by Hans Ostrom
A headline mumbled to me,
"Random man pricked with syringe,
told 'Welcome to the HIV club.'"
He's going to be okay, the man,
because of immediate medical attention.
Except that a headline writer
tried to turn him into a random man.
He is not a random man. He is
the man he is, none other. He
may have been randomly pricked.
But random pricking does not
a random man make.
2014 hans ostrom
Monday, September 22, 2014
"Practice Safe Poetry," by Hans Ostrom
How well do you know
the words you're using in poems?
How many other poets have used them?
How many of those poets are infected?
Practice safe writing. Do you know
the proper way to put a condom
on your cursor--or someone else's?
How clean are your pens?
When reading poems in public,
consider wearing a helmet
and safety glasses.
Be aware of your surroundings.
Check for enforcers sent from
various Schools of Poetry. Never
get between an ambitious poet
and a prize or a high poetic office.
Get your poems tested!
hans ostrom 2014
the words you're using in poems?
How many other poets have used them?
How many of those poets are infected?
Practice safe writing. Do you know
the proper way to put a condom
on your cursor--or someone else's?
How clean are your pens?
When reading poems in public,
consider wearing a helmet
and safety glasses.
Be aware of your surroundings.
Check for enforcers sent from
various Schools of Poetry. Never
get between an ambitious poet
and a prize or a high poetic office.
Get your poems tested!
hans ostrom 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
"Chekhov's Pistol," by Hans Ostrom
In this play I play
the role of William Shakespeare,
who is inside one of his sonnets on stage.
"I" stand in the glass cube (the sonnet),
on the walls
of which the words from the sonnet
appear. "I" shout the words
in random order. "I" strike
the words, curse, and stomp.
Someone pretending to care
comes and lets me out of the
cube. "I" introduce myself
as Bill S., an actor-playwright.
"Hi, Bill!" everyone shouts.
The set shifts.
I'm pushed under a kitchen
table: yep, an American play.
I fall asleep and snore and am
kicked by actors who are
drawing on their experience,
expressing truth, blah blah.
The American playwright
is in the audience, and under
orders from his management,
he acts like he's drunk,
bellicose, and talented.
No longer "I," "I" get out
from under the table and "kill"
all the characters with
a Renaissance sword--
revenge and all that shit.
Now Chekhov comes on stage
with a pistol and shoots me dead.
Dude, it is very cool. The actor's
from Sweden.
hans ostrom 2014
the role of William Shakespeare,
who is inside one of his sonnets on stage.
"I" stand in the glass cube (the sonnet),
on the walls
of which the words from the sonnet
appear. "I" shout the words
in random order. "I" strike
the words, curse, and stomp.
Someone pretending to care
comes and lets me out of the
cube. "I" introduce myself
as Bill S., an actor-playwright.
"Hi, Bill!" everyone shouts.
The set shifts.
I'm pushed under a kitchen
table: yep, an American play.
I fall asleep and snore and am
kicked by actors who are
drawing on their experience,
expressing truth, blah blah.
The American playwright
is in the audience, and under
orders from his management,
he acts like he's drunk,
bellicose, and talented.
No longer "I," "I" get out
from under the table and "kill"
all the characters with
a Renaissance sword--
revenge and all that shit.
Now Chekhov comes on stage
with a pistol and shoots me dead.
Dude, it is very cool. The actor's
from Sweden.
hans ostrom 2014
"We're Very Agreeable," by Hans Ostrom
How lovely of us to help
others keep us under surveillance
with devices we have solemnly,
enthusiastically purchased. A
good citizen is an informed citizen.
Some of us stand in line and ready
to trample each other to get mitts
on the new stuff. We're eager
to help states and corporations
know where we are and what
we're up to. Lovingly we tap
our devices with finger and thumbs.
We message, instantly! We opine.
We stay in touch. We stay in range.
hans ostrom 2014
others keep us under surveillance
with devices we have solemnly,
enthusiastically purchased. A
good citizen is an informed citizen.
Some of us stand in line and ready
to trample each other to get mitts
on the new stuff. We're eager
to help states and corporations
know where we are and what
we're up to. Lovingly we tap
our devices with finger and thumbs.
We message, instantly! We opine.
We stay in touch. We stay in range.
hans ostrom 2014
"Mere Dissolution," by Hans Ostrom
Too tired to attend
the Entropy Conference in Antwerp,
Professor A.P. Ledlox stayed home.
He sipped cryptic broth
and fell apart emotionally.
He stared out the window
at an alleged landscape
(smears of gray and brown).
Oh, for a whiff of
a young woman's neck, oh
for a swim in an alpine lake, oh
for chrissakes shut up, he
told himself: It's
dissolution, mine. Yearning
will not halt or decorate it.
hans ostro 2014
the Entropy Conference in Antwerp,
Professor A.P. Ledlox stayed home.
He sipped cryptic broth
and fell apart emotionally.
He stared out the window
at an alleged landscape
(smears of gray and brown).
Oh, for a whiff of
a young woman's neck, oh
for a swim in an alpine lake, oh
for chrissakes shut up, he
told himself: It's
dissolution, mine. Yearning
will not halt or decorate it.
hans ostro 2014
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